How to I compare system size rating to my electric bill?

[dat]

Well I have contacted Solar City and will await a reply from them.

They are going to size the system based on my last years electricity usage at a delivered price of about 13.6 cents a kwh, which is

09/2013 - 2088kwh/$303
10/2013 - 1464kwh/$213
11/2013 - 2245kwh/$312
12/2013 - 4319kwh/$589
01/2014 - 4678kwh/$629
02/2014 - 6176kwh/$828
03/2014 - 3752kwh/$506
04/2014 - 2401kwh/$326
05/2014 - 1621kwh/$223
06/2014 - 1626kwh/$221
07/2014 - 2048kwh/$264
08/2014 - 1729kwh/$224
09/2014 - 1808kwh/$246

Your house must be big. Why don't you use gas heater to save money?

[gte]

I don't have any interest in discussing why I do have something or why I don't have something else or how I could do something different that might be less expensive than solar ... I did not come to this forum for that.

I would however appreciate answers to my posted questions and related discussion around a solar system for my home. Thank you.

Your house must be big. Why don't you use gas heater to save money?

[dat]

I don't have any interest in discussing why I do have something or why I don't have something else or how I could do something different that might be less expensive than solar ... I did not come to this forum for that.

I would however appreciate answers to my posted questions and related discussion around a solar system for my home. Thank you.

I am sorry. I am just curious.

[russ]

I don't have any interest in discussing why I do have something or why I don't have something else or how I could do something different that might be less expensive than solar ... I did not come to this forum for that.

I would however appreciate answers to my posted questions and related discussion around a solar system for my home. Thank you.

He asked a question - if you can not reply nicely then don't reply. If you have gas in your area it is a proper question.

[jff6791]

With those bills in winter months, it looks like you may be using electric resistance heating. If you are, then spending a few thousand on a heat pump could pay back the investment faster than the same amount of money on solar PV. Or are the winter temperatures too cold for an air source heat pump?

It must be running on auxiliary backup (resistance) most of the time with that kind of usage.

[SunEagle]

Well I have contacted Solar City and will await a reply from them.

They are going to size the system based on my last years electricity usage at a delivered price of about 13.6 cents a kwh, which is

09/2013 - 2088kwh/$303
10/2013 - 1464kwh/$213
11/2013 - 2245kwh/$312
12/2013 - 4319kwh/$589
01/2014 - 4678kwh/$629
02/2014 - 6176kwh/$828
03/2014 - 3752kwh/$506
04/2014 - 2401kwh/$326
05/2014 - 1621kwh/$223
06/2014 - 1626kwh/$221
07/2014 - 2048kwh/$264
08/2014 - 1729kwh/$224
09/2014 - 1808kwh/$246

Ok. You used almost 36000kWh last year which is a lot but why is your business.

I would expect Solar City to size it around that 18 - 20kw size but something that big may run into local code issues since it is much larger than the average solar array.

As suggested instead of installing a very very large solar system it is usually cost justifiable to find places to reduce power consumption. The cost of reducing your usage by 1000kWh per month will be less expensive then installing solar to generate it.

Let us know what Solar City says and at least research what is the maximum size solar array your Utility will allow in your area.

[gte]

Emergency heat was on quite often to make up for the inefficiency of the heat pump at < 35 degrees.

I will be checking to see what the county says. Below is what Solar City said:

[SunEagle]

Besides the bogus Fed Tax credit, I also noticed that the $/kWh comparison is for the Utility and PPA is for the 1st year with estimated increases (high at 4.8% for the POCO) but 30 years for the purchase option. That makes it hard to determine exactly what your energy costs will be after 20 or 30 years.

Also how did they get a $24,571 savings on the PPA after 20 years when they calculate a monthly savings of only $32 ($377-$345 = $32) They must have used some type of big escalator in cost.

So what is the up front cost of the 20kw system and it's expected kWh/yr production. Without that information you really can't tell if the calculated savings are correct or just BS.

[J.P.M.]

The assumed rates of energy rate inflation from Solarcity are B.S. and, IMO, unsupportable from any reasonable perspective or reasonably authoritative source. FWIW, those #'s and others in there are, IMO, pretty typical of what I've seen on Solarcity quotes in my HOA and I don't hesitate to call BS on them. Same thing here. That's BS.

[nomadh]

[QUOTE=gte;125566]Thanks for the replies and the welcome.

I found out that there are calculators online that do most of the work

If the 5kwh system cost me less than $75 a month I would be in the positive (at today's electric rates for my area)
If the 10kwh system cost me less than $149 a month I would be in the positive (at today's electric rates for my area)

Looking at my electric bill, I do not have tiered kwh rates based on time used, although I believe there is a program you can enroll in to take advantage of that.

Ideally, I would like to get a net meter and install my own solar system. Although I'm a newb here and to solar, I'm quite well versed in circuitry, dc electronics and wiring and a/c wiring and theory, but I don't know if this is feasible or what an uninstalled system would (approximately) cost.

I don't have any interest in discussing why I do have something or why I don't have something else or how I could do something different that might be less expensive than solar ... I did not come to this forum for that.

I would however appreciate answers to my posted questions and related discussion around a solar system for my home. Thank you.

This place is about the power of shared information and knowledge. You system info is pretty unusual and its reasonable that the experts here ask questions about it. If you have non-monetary reasons to do something unusual it would be nice for future readers to let on as others learning from the posts might have a similar issue. Or just make up another reason about all your indoor grow lights. It "could" be for orchid growing With your usage and being in a colder climate (with snow?) your system just seems so massive.

Anyway here are some places for DIY that give engineering support. I wasn't considering DIY until I talked to a few of these places and a very handy friend offered to help and will be needing solar soon.

DIY solar quotes:

5.04 kw sma $8013 or $1.59 /watt or a 5.04 kw solar edge system $10,200 or $1.99 /watt They say they have people install for about $1.15 /watt or DIY
Also look at http://www.solarwholesalers.net they have been helpful with quotes and ideas.

[LyleKilkenny]

I'll take a shot.

A 5 kW system will produce power at the rate of 5kW when the solar irradiance is crossing the plane of the solar panel at the rate of 1,000 Watts/m^2. The solar irradiance is rarely at that high a level and is changing constantly. The 5kW rating is indeed for rating/sizing purposes, not unlike horsepower ratings for an ICE.

Look up and spend a few minutes with something called PVWatts. Read all the help screens first. Depending on a lot of stuff, a 5 kW sys. will likely produce REAL ROUGHLY somewhere between 7,000 and 9000 kWh/year +/- some if facing mostly south with little shade, depending on where you are located.

Do as you please, but a 100% offset of your electric bill is often not the most cost effective way to go. Read prior threads for logic/opinion/reasons why.

Glad you explained it out.. I am trying to get new solar power system and it is becoming hard for me to compare.. I hope I will be able to do it now..

[sensij]

http://suncitysolar.com http://solarhome.com

Also, with the same physical address:
www.zerodownsolarpanels.com
www.partsonsale.com
www.palmspringssolar.com
www.solatrontechnologies.com
www.solaronsale.com
www.solarrebates.com
www.sandiegosolarincentives.com
www.californiasolarloans.com
www.solarleasegoodidea.com
www.commercialsolar.com
www.inverterdoctor.com
www.solarleaseprograms.com

They are on yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/solar-home-inc-victorville), and cortera (http://start.cortera.com/company/research/l5j0nrj0n/solar-home-inc/) so there's that. Looks classy, good luck.

[ericf1]

[QUOTE=nomadh;127139]

http://suncitysolar.com http://solarhome.com both connect to the same place.

5.04 kw sma $8013 or $1.59 /watt or a 5.04 kw solar edge system $10,200 or $1.99 /watt They say they have people install for about $1.15 /watt or DIY
.

Looking at that system, it uses 48 140W panels. I guess if you have the space, that doesn't matter much.

[Naptown]

Here is what an advertiser from the site says:

With this, I'd be around $187 per month (with them installing it) with no interest and system would average saving me $276 per month ... that's pretty solid. I imagine that if I installed a system, I could average $1200 a year in savings based on this information.


Solar Energy Services Inc.
Phone: 410-923-6090
4.97/5 from 33 Reviews
System Size: 18.55kw
Annual Power Generation: 23081 kw/hours
Executive Summary - cash purchase
Gross cost: $64,925
Clean Energy Grant Program - Residential Solar PV ($ 1k, 20kW max) -$1,000 » link
Federal Tax Credit (30% of Net Cost at Installation) -$19,178 » link
Net Cost of System after rebates and incentives: $44,747

Production Incentives
MD Clean Energy Production Tax Credit $196/year » link
Maryland Public Srvc Comm - SREC purchase: $ 0.13 per kWh (2014-2015 market rate) $2,997/year » link
Pay Back Time: 7.09 years
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) on Investment: 14.1%
This is an amazing return given the stock market has averaged only a 9.7% return since 1962 and money in the bank earns less than 2%.
Executive Summary - Zero Down Leased Option
Original Monthly Utility Bill: $300
New Monthly Utility Bill: $0
Monthly Lease Payment: $302
Monthly Production Incentives (average): $253
Monthly Savings after Lease Costs: $251
Monthly Profit/Loss Year 1: $3,010
Total Profit/Loss over the life of the system after all repayments: $75,256

Actually that quote came from Solar estimate not Solar Energy Services
And is a generic estimate and a bit high for most installations.
I would know I do them for that company.

[gte]

Does anyone have any experience with wholesalesolar.com?

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/gridtie.html

They bundle their kits with a power conditioner

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/solaredge.html#powerBoxes

And I was wondering if anyone has experience with that product also? It seems to only be useful if you have shading issues, and adds about $150 per panel to the cost of the kit?